With the breakthrough achieved in both memory capacities and very large scale integration, a large field of sophisticated algorithms can now be implemented in real time or video rate. This is especially true for low level operations which are taking into account the video image itself. At this level, most of the operations can be carried out using a restricted group of basic functions. This has led to the realisation of a coherent VLSI chip set named MIP (Modular Image Processor) carried out in the framework of a EUREKA project. The methodology which has ruled the design, the resulting chip set description as well as one of its applications are presented.